Music Appreciation Final

Jenkins, Lauren

IIA. In order to differentiate between program music, symphonic poem, concert overtures, grandiose, or miniature compositions, we first need to go over each one individually. Each type has its own unique characteristics.

Program music is a term for instrumental music written in accordance with a poem, a story, or some other literary source (Kerman, Tomlinson, 233). Program music was not new in the Romantic era but it made music even more expressive because it included that literary connection. The word “program” refers to the story the music has a connection to. Operas usually coincide with program music. A program symphony was an entire symphony spelled out movement by movement (Kerman, Tomlinson, 254). An example of program symphony would be Fantastic Symphony by Hector Berlioz. When this was performed he actually handed out his own made up program and the music of the symphony acted as a narrator (Kerman, Tomlinson, 233). The music in this piece followed the story all the way through to the end. Hector actually composed this symphony under the influence of opium. In order to narrate a story he used the orchestra in many different and creative ways. He had to ensure that the story was expressed in his own unique and strange way.

There is also another type of program music. Instead of trying to narrate a story, it attempts to capture the general flavor of a mood associated with some extra musical condition, concept, or personality (Kerman, Tomlinson, 233). An example would be a piece by Frederic Chopin Nocturne, which was a title for a whole genre of compositions that set up expectations of nighttime romance (Kerman, Tomlinson, 233).

Program music is a debate that still goes on today. Does the music really express or represent the program? Is the audience able to tell what the music represents without being given a program? In the Romantic era audiences did not want to be without a program. The audience didn’t necessarily want the music to make sense on its own. They embraced the less “pure” music because they liked that it mixed musical elements with non musical elements (Kerman, Tomlinson, 233). This also gave the composer freedom of expression and the knowledge that the audience will understand.

A concert overture is an early 19th century genre resembling an opera overture but without any following opera. In other words, it’s the music that would be played before an opera. Like program music, concert overtures were usually based on some kind of literary theme. A very well known example of this would be A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Felix Mendelssohn which was later made a part of Shakespeare’s play (Kerman, Tomlinson, 254). I would explain it as the prelude of an opera. The music you hear before the opera begins, or opens the curtains. Usually that music is soft and slow. Very rarely is it loud and fast temped.

In the Late Romantic period a different form of program music came about. Symphonic poems were one-movement orchestral compositions with a program in a free musical form (Kerman, Tomlinson, 283). The most well known composer that used this from was Franz Liszt. Liszt’s main goal was to create a composition that depicted and expressed a well known poem, play, or literary piece. This differs from the concert overture because it is more of a free form. It doesn’t follow the guide lines of a sonata. Another major composer of symphonic poems would be Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. He composed Romeo and Juliet. Tchaikovsky preferred the name symphonic fantasia or overture-fantasy for his works (Kerman, Tomlinson, 283). His compositions had one movement, a free form, and adopted features from sonata form (Kerman, Tomlinson, 283).

Miniature compositions only last a few minutes. They were mostly made up of songs and short piano pieces which were meant to convey a specific emotion (Kerman, Tomlinson, 234). This way the composer could closely connect with the listener. Piano miniatures were usually given general titles (Kerman, Tomlinson, 234). Schumann was a specialist in these titles. One of his works was named The Poet Speaks, Confession, The Bird as a Prophet. The difference with miniatures is that the composition is over before the listener can wonder where the music is going (Kerman, Tomlinson, 235).

Grandiose compositions are the opposite of miniatures. Grandiose compositions are long and more in depth compositions. The time span is the main difference. Grandiose compositions can easily reach an hour long. An example of a grandiose would be Hector Berlioz’s symphony Romeo and Juliet. This composition lasted an hour and a half. Berlioz added soloists and a chorus in some of the movements and a narrator between them, and then threw in an offstage chorus for other movements (Kerman, Tomlinson, 235). The effect that people got form these grandiose compositions was a sense of poetry, philosophical or religious ideas, story lines, and dramatic action (Kerman, Tomlinson, 235). The audience was often left very much impressed, even stupefied, by these grandiose compositions (Kerman, Tomlinson, 236). They included so many powerful emotions expressed that the audience didn’t know how to react at times.

Works Cited 1. Kerman, Joseph, and Gary Tomlinson. LISTEN. 7th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin, 2012. Print.

Jenkins, Lauren

IIIA. The most well known modernist movement was impressionism. The musical impressionism movement differed from program music. It was similar to the art impressionism movement. Music focused more on a suggestion and the surrounding atmosphere. Unlike the Romanticism era where the music focused heavily on major and minor scales, impressionist music used a very different sound. They made new scales that were uncommonly used. Some of those scales would be the whole tone scale which divides the octave into six equal parts and all of the intervals are whole steps which give it that dreamy, ambiguous sound (Kerman, Tomlinson, 315). The pentatonic scale has five notes which are playable on the black keys of a piano which is derived from Asian folk music (Kerman, Tomlinson, 315). There was also the octatonic scale which fits eight pitches into the octave by alternating whole and half steps (Kerman, Tomlinson, 315). Impressionist music also favored shorter compositions like nocturnes, arabesques, and preludes. Claude Debussy is an example of impressionist music. Debussy’s themes and motives were fragmentary and tentative, his harmonies were strangely vague, and the tonality of his music is often clouded (Kerman, Tomlinson, 317). Debussy’s Three Nocturnes were described as impressionist symphonic poems, but they only have titles not narrative programs (Kerman, Tomlinson, 318). One of the nocturnes Clouds uses a pentatonic theme which is a characteristic of impressionist music. In the beginning of this piece we hear a series of chords played by clarinets and bassoons that repeat. The chords express great cumulus clouds, moving slowly and silently across the sky (Kerman, Tomlinson, 318). Clouds is also built on an octatonic scale.

The expressionism movement and music are very similar to the expressionism literature and art movement. This movement exploited extreme states, extending all the way to hysteria, nightmare, even insanity (Kerman, Tomlinson, 325). It sought to express the most extreme human feelings and emotions. The music of this movement sought out to express extreme emotion and it succeeded! Arnold Schoenberg was the foremost composer of this movement. An example of one of his compositions was Pierrot lunaire. On this piece we hear the Freudian imagery, the obsession with the moon, his amorous frustrations, his nightmarish hallucinations, his pranks and his adventures (Kerman, Tomlinson, 326). Schoenberg also invented a new form of music called Sprechstimme which is an in between of singing and speaking (Kerman, Tomlinson, 326). Pierrot lunaire has five instrumentalists that altogether they play eight instruments because three of the players switch between two (Kerman, Tomlinson, 326). Schoenberg’s impressive variety of instrumental effects compensates for the strangeness of the Sprechstimme (Kerman, Tomlinson, 327). Expressionism and Schoenberg also attracted two Viennese students who shared his views, Anton Webern, and Alban Berg. These two were often referred to as the Second Viennese School (Kerman, Tomlinson, 326).

Not only was Schoenberg an expressionist but he also had a huge role in serialism. Serialism is a systematization of the chromaticism developed by Romantic composers (Kerman, Tomlinson, 332). Schoenberg came up with the twelve-tone system which was defined by Schoenberg by a method of composing with twelve tones solely in relation to one another that is not in relation to a central pitch, or tonic, which is no longer the point of reference for music (Kerman, Tomlinson, 332). This twelve tone system was known as serialism. This may seem like it puts a limit on what the composer can do with the composition but when used and taken into consideration the number of options are enormous (Kerman, Tomlinson, 332). Serialism can be regarded as the end result of an important tendency in 19th century music, the search for even stronger means of unity within individual compositions (Kerman, Tomlinson, 332). A serial composition is totally unified because every measure of it shares the same unique sound. On its own terms, Schoenberg’s serialism seemed to realize the Romantic composer’s idea of unity (Kerman, Tomlinson, 332).

Minimalism was the earliest and most famous of the new styles of music. This type of music uses simple melodies, motives, and harmonies repeated many times (Kerman, Tomlinson, 367). Terry Riley’s piece In C would be the first great example of minimalism. It lasts for about forty-five minutes in which the instruments repeat a set of fifty-three tiny melodic figures that spell out only three harmonies (Kerman, Tomlinson, 360). The compositions pitches and rhythms are very plain, simple, and very soothing. The piece would be described as a very long time segment of very low intensity (Kerman, Tomlinson, 360). Minimalism has also been associated with American opera.
Works Cited 1. Kerman, Joseph, and Gary Tomlinson. LISTEN. 7th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin, 2012. Print.

Cited: 1. Kerman, Joseph, and Gary Tomlinson. LISTEN. 7th ed. Boston:  Bedford/St. Martin, 2012. Print.